> -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:owner-u2- > [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Tom Firl > Sent: Monday, May 17, 2004 7:36 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: RE: [U2] Companies going belly up converting from PICK/MV > > > Dawn IMHO its the people. Good management gets good > > programmers and they make your business successful. > > Amen to that. People (and not technology) are by far the biggest > difference makers in the success or failure of a project. Technology > simply does what it does -- no more, no less. It's people that apply -- > or misapply -- the technology to solve the problem at hand. >
I definitely agree that people make a bigger difference. However, if you look at how far we as a profession have come in the past 40 years, our database development efforts have been crawling along at such a pace that they might even be going backwards, where hardware, networking, etc have made huge gains. It is a lot cheaper to get the same hardware power today than 2, 20, 30, 40 years ago -- is it also cheaper to implement and maintain database information systems? I think that SQL-based DBMS's and the faith people have (and are taught to have) in the application of relational theories as THE way to approach data just might have something to do with the lack of progress and huge INCREASES in costs to companies using databases. > I didn't catch the original post from Dawn, but I'm supposing she intends > to frame these anecdotes in light of the strengths of MV technology in > solving specific types of business and technical problems. Actually someone asked for examples since I told them I had heard of some, but then I couldn't seem to scan the archives the same way I used to. > Dawn, my company is starting its fifth year of development on a product > that is n-tier, GUI, SQL database, etc. to replace an existing green- > screen MV product that is 20+ years old. The history of development on > this product is interesting (a failed attempt at off-shore development, > "death march" project management, etc), though I don't know that I have > much in the way of "MV vs. SQL" ammunition. This type of anecdote aligns with my intuition after working with both types of systems. There are some reasons why Oracle, DB2, Sybase, and SQL Server projects seem to have similar patterns even when the people involved are different. I'll buy that sometimes it is the people and that always the people are integral, but I don't buy that the difference is only people and that all technology is equal. > Contact me off-line if you have an interest in hearing some details. Thanks. --dawn > Tom Firl > Columbia Ultimate > ------- > u2-users mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://www.u2ug.org/listinfo/u2-users ------- u2-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.u2ug.org/listinfo/u2-users
